Lake Forest can get needed water filters - for now

Following news that unique filters used in the city water plant would no longer be produced by AquaSource, the city learned from the French firm that it can provide a limited number of new filters.

In May the city spent $719,000 with AquaSource, to replace 88 of the plant's 192, 18-inch diameter filter modules in a system that went online in April 2004. Filters have a life expectancy of about five to seven years.

Public Works Director Michael Thomas said he received an email from AquaSource, "saying they will make 24 more modules for us."

Thomas said he expects to receive a price quote in coming days and will immediately seek approval to make the purchase, adding that "I still need to get approval to purchase the modules."

"If we can acquire an additional 24 modules, we should not need to replace any additional modules for another five years. So, in essence, we should have 5 years to study and evaluate what our next steps will be."

The startling development will likely alter action by the city council last month, for a refocused, $105,000 study, to recommend a new course of action for the plant, retrofitted 10 years ago with AquaSource's fiber filter technology.

In June, acting on a letter and phone call from AquaSource, that no more filters were being produced, Lake Forest City Council took action. Council members and staff, growing increasingly leery of the city's dependence on a sole supplier, altered the scope of a performance study, initially due in September, for $94,500, and changed it to a December deadline at the higher cost.

AquaSource, based in Toulouse, France, said in a May letter it has stopped producing the filters, in order to focus on newer technology.

Lake Forest went to the larger filters in 2004, in part, to allow the existing water plant to retain the same footprint and not expand. With more experience in the new filtration technology, city officials have been leaning toward having the lakefront plant retrofitted with industry-standard filters, from a domestic company.

Other North Shore communities, including Highland Park, have made the switch from long-used sand and pebble filtration systems, in a series of pools, to man-made filter membranes.

Thomas, in an earlier interview, said recently replaced AquaSource filters will allow the plant to continue operating at full capacity for some time and that the French firm still can repair existing filters if needed. "But I don't think we'll run into a scenario like that," Thomas added at the time.

In AquaSource, Lake Forest had invested in a company it thought it was "leading" the industry into the 18-inch filter market, but it turns out nobody followed as the industry has veered sharply into the new technology.

Thomas, in discussing the modified scope of the water plant performance study, at a recent council meeting, acknowledged that the late spring letter from Aqua Source was "Somewhat of a surprise, but on the other hand we were studying water rates over the past eight months and that was one of the things we were going to look at.

"We wanted to see what other filter companies are out on the market and what we could do to expand the water plant that would not necessarily be tied to a company that produces filters overseas."

The study, due in December, will give city officials a blueprint going forward on what technology it can bring online at what cost. The study will provide data for a ten-year capital plan. Initially due in September, the earlier project study cost was $94,500.

Also, in May, Lake Forest's 7,000 residential and commercial water users had rates hiked by 50 percent, with a new variable rate for those using more water, paying extra. City figures indicate that depending on how much water is used this summer on their lawns, the majority of homeowners would be paying between $42 and $57 extra for the year.

Officials said a survey put Lake Forest's new water rates – ranging from $5.14 to $5.30 per 1,000 gallons – puts the city sixth highest of 16 surrounding communities.

The decisions and miscalculations made a decade ago by the city were colorfully described by city council members recently – comparing Aqua Source's system to high-performance but expensive and difficult to repair car, with replacement parts not universally available.

Fourth Ward Ald. Michael Adelman, among those who questioned not having a domestic supplier earlier in the year, said "When we go up to the UP, the guys with Land Rovers and Porsche Cayennes, take their Chevy Suburbans and Ford pickups because if something breaks, there's always someone up there to fix it."

Third Ward Ald. Stanford Tack later quipped, "The issue isn't really whether we bought a Porsche Cayenne or a Land Rover. We got a Peugeot."

The number of rescues performed by Lake County law-enforcement officers with the opioid countermeasure naloxone increased last week when Lake County Sheriff's deputies helped revive a reported heroin-overdose victim in unincorporated Lake Bluff.

The newly opened Learning League GC in Lake Forest has partnered with local school officials and parents for tutoring tailored to students' individual learning styles, as well as District 65 and District 67 curricula.